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Binghamton council adopts sewer-credit ordinance, lowers council approval threshold to 20%
Summary
The Binghamton City Council on June 18 adopted introductory ordinance O25-42 establishing new code chapter 339a on sewer credits, and amended the ordinance to require council approval when 20% or more of available credits would be sold.
The Binghamton City Council on June 18 adopted introductory ordinance O25-42, creating new code chapter 339a to establish a sewer-credit program and requiring City Council approval when 20% or more of the available credits would be sold.
Council member Kavanaugh, who introduced the ordinance in the finance committee, said the program is intended to let the city deploy an asset to aid development while adding oversight. "It's a way for the city to use, deploy essentially an asset in a way that's going to hopefully aid in development," Kavanaugh said during the meeting.
The council considered an amendment that reduces the council-approval threshold in section 339a-3 from the draft's "greater than 50%" to "20% or greater." Council member Kavanaugh moved the amendment; another council member seconded. Kavanaugh explained the change as a cautious step to allow City Council more input on larger projects that would consume a significant share of the credits. "I'm trying to lower that threshold to 20%, just as a little bit more cautious maneuver and to possibly allow us to have some input over, larger projects," he said.
The amendment passed on a recorded vote of 6-0. After amending the ordinance, the council voted to adopt O25-42 as amended, also by a 6-0 vote. Votes were recorded by name: Council member Madovetsky — aye; Council member Rathmell — aye; Council member Kavanaugh — aye; Council member Middleton — aye; Council member Murray — aye; Council president Pro Tem Hotchkiss — aye.
No statutory citations or external approvals were cited in the discussion recorded in the meeting transcript. Council members said they do not expect the lowered threshold to unduly burden the council calendar.
The ordinance creates a municipal mechanism for sewer credits and establishes a procedure for council oversight when a sizable share of the credits would be sold. City staff or subsequent documents may provide implementing regulations and application procedures; the council did not adopt additional implementing language during the June 18 session.
